Excuse me to speak in Portuguese:

Why English is simpler than Portuguese? – Part I – Masculine and Feminine

Vamos falar de pessoas, no masculino e na feminina… (Sei, sei! Não é feminina, é feminino, adjetivo masculino para “mulheres”. Muito bom, hein!) Pois bem, imagine a seguinte situação: Eu e um colega acabamos de ver dois homens conversarem animadamente e vamos comentar esse fato “extraordinário” com outra pessoa. O meu amigo relata: “Michael e eu vimos duas pessoas conversarem. Elas estavam conversando animadas”. Mas eu sei que eram (foram?) dois homens; portanto, a minha tendência será dizer: “Vi duas pessoas conversarem. Eles estavam conversando animadamente”. Errado, Michael! Eram pessoas, duas pessoas. Assim, o correto é (a minha verificação ortográfica está querendo que eu escreva “são elas”, mas não é isso que quero dizer – você me entende?) elas. Não obstante o que você queira, as regras do português não vão se curvar às suas vontades.

Outro dia, quase escrevi “uma mapa”. A tentação foi (ou era?) grande, mas me contive a tempo. (Ou é “em tempo”? Em inglês, é in time.)

Uma das primeiras regras que aprendemos a respeito do português é que os substantivos são masculinos ou femininos. Depois de passada a surpresa ou choque inicial, nós nos conformamos (“conformamos-nos?”) com essa realidade cruel. Em português, há sexo em todas as coisas. (Quisera eu ter tanto!) “Mesa” é mulher! “Piso” é homem! E ai de nós, curiosos e curiosas, se perguntamos por que é assim. Para nós, simples falantes de inglês, questões de sexo são reservadas às coisas obviamente masculinas (eu, por exemplo) e femininas (Julia Roberts e Cameron Diaz). Os pronomes she e he, os possessivos hers e his, os objetos her e him e… acabou-se. Em inglês, nós nos referimos ao sexo dos homens, das mulheres, dos gatos, cachorros e outros bichos do reino animal e pronto: esgotaram-se aí as questões masculinas e femininas. Mas, com o português, não: a questão está (estar?) apenas começando.

Bom, a duras penas, mas com muita (muito?) boa vontade, aprendemos e aceitamos que as coisas têm gênero. Uma das primeiras coisas que aprendemos é que as palavras que terminam com “o” são masculinas e que as que terminam com “a” são femininas. Mas aí vem alguém e diz: “Bom dia”. Como assim? Não deveria ser “Boa dia” ou “Bom dio”? Mas, como ia dizendo, aprendemos que os adjetivos em português vêm após o substantivo (mas, é claro, nem sempre), ao passo que em inglês vêm antes. Sim, posso arriscar: sempre. Em português, além de engolir esse fato, precisamos aprender a lidar com as exceções. É “bom dia” mesmo (mas tivemos um dia bom no trabalho hoje), e não é “minha guarda-roupa”, mas “meu guarda-roupa”. Porque “guarda-roupa” é substantivo masculino. E “dia”, quem diria, também.

Eu me lembrei de um diálogo engraçado que, volta e meia, tenho com os meus filhos, em casa.

Filho(a): “Pai, cadê a minha camiseta?”
Eu: “Estar na minha guarda-roupa”.
Correção do filho(a): “Na minha não, no meu”.
Eu: “Na seu não, na minha”.

Juro que esse tipo de diálogo é comum. Posso perguntar, ou pelo menos perguntava quando tinha mais cabelo (por que não cabelos, se em inglês hairs significa “fios” de cabelo?): “Alguém viu minha pente?” Posso dizer “Recebi uma telefonema de fulano”? Não só posso, como de fato faço (faço-o?; o faço?; faço o?) com freqüência, e não me sinto constrangido em (ou ao?) admitir isso. Desculpe-me, mas, apesar de tanto tempo aqui, ainda sou bem capaz de errar o sexo dos artigos e dos substantivos. Para mim, não há lógica atrás da escolha. Afinal, não aprendi naturalmente quando era criança; não foi algo que aprendi no colo da minha mãe. (Mas nem tudo está perdido: ela me ajudou bastante com o inglês.)

Há várias maneiras de aprender e decorar as coisas. Tive dificuldade de lembrar a diferença entre um lenço e um lençol, por exemplo, até que um colega de trabalho me fez perceber que eu não dormia num lenço, nem usava lençol para secar as mãos, e aí ele me disse: “Michael, é fácil. É só lembrar que um lenço tem cinco letras e um lençol – que é maior – tem seis”. Nunca mais esqueci.

IN A NUTSHELL:

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:

A TV programme on HOWARD GARDNER’s THEORY:

Decoding the multiple intelligences

A slideshare file on the multiple intelligence theory:

If you have the time, more on the theory:

Howard Gardner initially formulated a list of seven intelligences. His listing was provisional. The first two are ones that have been typically valued in schools; the next three are usually associated with the arts; and the final two are what Howard Gardner called ‘personal intelligences’ (Gardner 1999: 41-43).

Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence.

Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner’s words, in entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related.

Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner’s view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

In Frames of Mind Howard Gardner treated the personal intelligences ‘as a piece’. Because of their close association in most cultures, they are often linked together. However, he still argues that it makes sense to think of two forms of personal intelligence. Gardner claimed that the seven intelligences rarely operate independently. They are used at the same time and tend to complement each other as people develop skills or solve problems.

source: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

more on wikipedia

What’s your take on this theory? Do you think it’s really groundbreaking or it maybe an excuse for people who don’t have or don’t want to develop their abilities to say: I have a different kind of intelligence?

HEY GUYS!

Let’s take 10 minutes and keep walking the extra mile?

You may have heard of HEATHROW airport. It’s the biggest in the UK and “it also handles more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world”. So. listen AND/OR to this piece of news and improve your understanding and vocabulary of the English language. The VOCAB in BOLD has its meaning at the end of the post – try to work out their meaning before checking them!

NICE READING!

THIEDU

Learning English – News about Britain

Heathrow terminal 5

Listen to the story
Download (603 K mp3)

London Heathrow is the biggest airport in the UK and it also handles more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world. For this reason, expansion was planned and on 27th March a fifth terminal opened to help to cope with the many passengers that pass through the airport.

The new terminal has taken a long time to plan and build. The idea was first proposed back in the 1980s. The opening of it has been talked about widely in the media in the UK and expectations were high for the £4.3 billion project.

However, in spite of long preparations at Terminal 5 ahead of the grand opening, things soon descended into chaos. There were problems from the outset as staff had difficulties finding car parking spaces and getting through security to get into the building. This consequently caused a delay when passengers started to arrive and adequate numbers of staff were not in place. Long passenger queues formed and the slow start meant that everyone had to play catch-up from the beginning.

Staff were having problems using the new systems and a baggage handler told the BBC, it was all “a shambles the moment the doors opened”. The terminal has been designed to handle 12,000 bags an hour but due to a reported “lack of training and essential support that was promised”, a backlog of luggage soon materialised.

By lunchtime on that first day, 20 flights had been cancelled to try and alleviate the problems. Flights continued to be cancelled in the days following the opening and up to 28,000 bags have now had to be placed in temporary storage.

BA, the only airline operating at Terminal 5 says it is working to clear the backlog, but the negative publicity caused by this fiasco has not helped the airport or the airline’s reputation at all.

Vocabulary

handles
deals with, takes responsibility for

international passenger traffic
people who travel on planes from one country to another

expansion
becoming bigger, increasing in size

to cope
to deal (with a difficult situation) successfully

proposed
offered, stated, suggested (used when talking about a plan or action that people will consider)

expectations
when you think or believe something good will happen

billion
a thousand million

grand
splendid and impressive

from the outset
from the very beginning

adequate
here, sufficient, enough

queues formed
people stood one after another in long lines

to play catch-up
to act quickly in order not to miss something (here, their flights). Literally, in a sport or game, to try to match the performance of another competitor

a baggage handler
somebody whose job it is to load and unload airplane baggage

a shambles
in a state of confusion, poorly organised

lack of
not enough, insufficient

a backlog
a large quantity of unfinished work that has built up over a period of time and which must be dealt with

materialised
appeared

alleviate
relieve, make easier

temporary storage
here, when lost bags are kept safe for a short time in a special building/place until somebody deals with them

fiasco
a humiliating failure